To the Penn Law Community:I am a news junkie.
The newspaper reading habit is ingrained in me. I like nothing better
than perusing political stories with my morning coffee. But there’s a new generation of news consumers
who would rather watch the news on television, or view streaming video on their computer
screens. They don’t look forward to the thud of the newspaper landing on their doorsteps. And
therein lies a dilemma for the nation’s newspapers, which are losing readers the way Rust Belt cities
are losing population.

The question is, How can newspapers survive in a digital age?

In this issue, we seek answers to that question from Alberto Ibarguen, L’74, a newspaper veteran
who was publisher of the Miami Herald. Today, Ibarguen heads the Knight Foundation, which
aims to improve communities and maintain the quality of the newspapers serving them. In that
capacity, he’s leading an effort to fund innovations in the digital delivery of news. So far, companies
are stepping forward with ideas such as creating news content for cell phones to producing software
for citizen journalism. The outcome of these efforts could point the way to a new future for
an industry in decline.

Speaking of newspapers, the subject of our cover story is no stranger to the press. Millions
of people know the name Adrian Cronauer, L’89, the inspiration behind the box-office smash,
“Good Morning, Vietnam.” The film’s success propelled Adrian onto the feature pages of the
nation’s newspapers — and helped pay his way through Penn Law School. (He graduated at the
tender age of 50.) Adrian has come full circle in his life. Forty years after serving in Vietnam, he
periodically finds himself back in Saigon. Only this time he’s not there to entertain the troops.
Adrian is on a much more solemn mission. As a special assistant in the Department of Defense,
he briefs families on efforts to find soldiers missing in action or taken prisoners of war. And,
curiously, he’s back in the news.

Worlds away from Saigon (or New York or Washington, for that matter) live four alumni
who are also featured in this issue. They chose to return to their hometowns, and have flourished
in Madison, Wis., and in Hazleton, Hermitage and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They prove that, in
the digital age, it doesn’t matter where you live. Success follows you everywhere, especially when
you’re armed with a Penn Law education.